Outback Update and A New Recipe

I was sitting at my computer yesterday afternoon -- minding my own business -- and I received an email from Chris Moralez who, evidently, is the REAL manager and owner of The Outback Restaurant where my birthday dinner got all messed up on Friday night.  Chris emailed that she had HEARD about the incident, and she would like me to call her.  So I did. 

Since I wrote all this to Margaret already, I am just going to paste it here:

You won't believe it.  You better sit down. Chris Morales, the Manager of Outback emailed me and asked me to call her.  When I called, guess what she was doing?????????????? She was WASHING THE LITTLE FORKS!  They were right there all the time.  AND, she told me that there is suppose to be ONE OUNCE of butter served in those little bowls.  I told her there was barely ONE DROP of butter in the bowls, and I just sent her the picture that I took. She also told me that Corporate doesn't have a butter rule.  It is HER rule.  And she said you can have as many bowls as you want if one ounce isn't enough.  One ounce would have been a flood compared to what I got. She is sending me a gift card for some amount.  I don't know how much.  She told me that her managers, obviously, need more training.  I told her that so many things went wrong, it was actually funny.  I also told her that the two managers were very nice to us, but the waitress wasn't friendly at all. Be prepared to go to Outback again.  She wants to meet me to apologize some more.  Good heavens!  I think they have apologized enough already!

Proof positive that some managers really DO CARE about their customer's satisfaction at a restaurant.  AND -- to the people that think I am such a ***** because I am the type to call for a manager -- please note the outcome.  Correction of the situation and more training for the 3 employees involved.  I bet the "no fork - no butter" policy ended with me!

The reason I do inform management in cases like that is because I own a business.  Jerry and I WANT TO KNOW if a customer isn't properly tended to in our medical equipment store.  Sometimes, the customer is just a PITA and impossible to please, but not usually.  Jerry and I, as the owners of the store, cannot FIX a situation that we don't know about.

We had a customer come in one time in her wheelchair, and she was with another lady.  My clerks knew the lady, as she had been in several times before.  I was working at this store then, and my office was behind a closed door and a dark window, so I didn't see what was going on.

My salesgirl, Kodi, came into my office and informed me that there was a customer who wanted us to sell her some expensive piece of medical equipment but not make her pay for it.  She said she was GOING TO GET A CHECK the next day or two, and she would come in and pay when she got it.

I told Kodi to tell the lady to come back when she got the check.

Kodi went out and told the lady what I said.

The lady complained and said she was a good customer and it was a Worker's Comp claim, and we should trust her!

Kodi came into my office again and told me the lady was INSISTING, and she didn't know what to do.

I told Kodi to apologize profusely -- explain that it was "company policy" -- and tell her to return when she got the check.

Now Kodi is the sweetest, most darling girl.  I don't think she even knows how to raise her voice and get mad.  Pretty -- long blonde curly hair -- sweet smile and tender voice.  Think "opposite of Joy".  She went out and told the lady AGAIN that we couldn't just give the item to her.

The lady was having a FIT and insisted that SHE talk to the manager!  Kodi said she would go get me.  Well, by that time, the lady had figured out where my office was, and she just FOLLOWED Kodi into my office.  I got up out of my desk chair, and I walked over to the lady and introduced myself.  I told her that Kodi was correct, and that I could NOT give her the item until she could pay me for it even though she had a worker's comp claim.  (Let me point out here that when Jerry and I owned two pharmacies, we got stuck with over $100,000 of accounts receivable in worker's comp money -- promised to be paid upon settlement -- but was given to the patient, and we never saw a dime of it!)

Kodi and the lady left my office and went back out onto the sales floor.  I closed my door.  A little while later, Kodi returned.  The lady was STILL OUT THERE and she was demanding to talk to MY boss.  Kodi told her that I WAS the boss.  She insisted that SOMEBODY had to be my boss, and she wasn't leaving until she talked to MY boss.  I told Kodi to tell her that Jennifer -- my biller and secretary who sat in the office next to mine -- was my boss.  I don't think Jennifer was there right then, so the lady was going to have to call her.  I don't remember what happened after that.  I'm just sayin'!  Sometimes, the customer is CRAZY!

Now, for something a little different.  I am not a gourmet cook by any stretch of the imagination, but every now and then, I come up with a really good dish.  My sister, Judy, called me yesterday, and we talked for a long time.  This NEVER, EVER happens unless Judy is mad at my daughter.  They are usually best buds and entertain each other by bad-mouthing me -- or so it seems.  Anyway, Judy is furious with my daughter right now, and she called about my birthday.  She asked me to come to the store where she works yesterday, but I didn't want to go there, so I didn't.  She called me late afternoon and asked WHERE I WAS, and WHY wasn't I at HER store, which happens to be Tuesday Morning Mall.  She only works there one day a week, but it is "her" store.  Whatever!  Later on, I felt bad for not going there, so I called her, and invited her to dinner after she got off work at 6.

Judy actually IS a gourmet cook.  If she fixes dinner, it is going to be something you never ate before, and it is going to be AWESOME!  I had STILL not eaten the Talapia fillets I thawed out 3 days earlier, so I knew I had to fix those last night.  I had gotten on my Ipad earlier and looked up talapia recipes, and I had found one that looked interesting.  It called for fresh spinach, however, and I didn't have any.  Fortunately, Braum's carries it, and I quickly went and purchased a bag of fresh spinach.  That was BEFORE I invited Judy to dinner.  I was just going to make it for Jerry and me. 

The original online recipe was to spread some olive oil in a dish -- put the spinach all over the bottom of the dish -- put the fish fillets on top of that -- sprinkle with salt and pepper -- bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

After I invited Judy to come, I decided that wasn't "gourmet" enough for her, so I tried to make it a little more exciting.  Wonder-of-wonders, it turned out really, really good!  Even my husband, who wouldn't know the difference between cardboard and a steak, complimented me several times about how good it was.  That very rarely happens.

So, I am going to share this recipe with anyone who would like to try it.  This is MY version.

Spray the casserole dish with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil).

Layer the fresh spinach leaves -- a lot of them -- all over the bottom.

Salt and pepper the spinach leaves.

Talapia Fillets:  Enough to cover the spinach.  I washed 5 of them and patted them dry.  Then I turned them all over so the ugly side was up.  I sprayed that side with EVOO and sprinkled with garlic salt and course ground pepper.  Then I layed the UGLY SIDE DOWN on top of the spinach. 

Now this is where I got creative:

I got out a measuring cup and I put 2 to 3 Tablespoons of real butter in it and I melted it in the Microwave.

Then I got the little plastic lemon out of my frig, and I squirt several teaspoons of lemon juice in the butter, and I stirred it.  Then I got a little brush and brushed that all over the top of the fish fillets.  I poured the extra on so it would drizzle down onto the spinach underneath the fish.  Then I sprinkled the fillets with garlic salt (I sprinkle EVERYTHING with garlic salt) and pepper.

Then I stood and stared at it.  It looked boring.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?  What else could I do?

Then, I remembered that Phylly had brought me a lifetime supply of basil on Saturday.  I decided to pull it out of the cupboard and read the label to see if it was good with fish.  Yep! 

Sure 'nuf!  Good with fish.  So I sprinkled a light

coating of basil all over the top of the fish.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm?  Still boring.  I set it aside and started working on the salad.  I took out a can of mandarin oranges to use in the salad -- because Judy does that -- but while I was draining them, I thought, HEY, why can't I put these on the fish???

No law against it, and we could always take them off if they were gross, so on they went.  It livened up the dish so much just to have some color on top of those boring fish fillets.

Here is what it looked like BEFORE I put it in the oven.  The reason the oranges look like they are floating is because I had to add them to the picture in Photoshop.  I forgot to take a pic after I added the oranges.

And Judy was 30 minutes late, so by the time she arrived, we gobbled dinner down and I barely got a picture of the baked fish.

Here is a pick of the last portion before I ate it.  Those oranges are really there.

If you like fish and you like spinach, try this one.  I sure will make it again.  30 minutes at 375.

Better get showered and ready for my day.

Hugs, Joy